Mild-mannered kindergarten teacher Neve Botticelli leads a double life. Thanks to a childhood tragedy and her paranoid father, she’s a survivalist who's learned to live off the grid.

When self-made billionaire Micah Kincaid storms into town in search of his son, Rowan, he’s pushy, entitled, and stands for everything she despises. Micah can’t believe a kindergarten teacher is barring the way to him getting crucial information or even just a glimpse of the boy his cheating ex kidnapped. They share only one thing in common: either will do anything to protect the four-year-old, who they soon discover is being held for ransom by an outlaw motorcycle gang.

But as they work together to get Rowan back, they start to see beyond each other’s masks. Could falling in love be even more dangerous than hunting down deadly criminals?

Mild-mannered kindergarten teacher Neve Botticelli leads a double life. Thanks to a childhood tragedy and her paranoid father, she’s a survivalist who's learned to live off the grid.

When self-made billionaire Micah Kincaid storms into town in search of his son, Rowan, he’s pushy, entitled, and stands for everything she despises. Micah can’t believe a kindergarten teacher is barring the way to him getting crucial information or even just a glimpse of the boy his cheating ex kidnapped. They share only one thing in common: either will do anything to protect the four-year-old, who they soon discover is being held for ransom by an outlaw motorcycle gang.

But as they work together to get Rowan back, they start to see beyond each other’s masks. Could falling in love be even more dangerous than hunting down deadly criminals?

Sensuality Level: Behind Closed Doors

About the Author

Sandy Vaile is an Australian motorbike-riding daredevil who isn't content with a story unless there's a courageous heroine and a dead body. Find Sandy Vaile at www.sandyvaile.com, on Facebook atFacebook.com/SandyVaile, and on Twitter @Sandy_Vaile.

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Sandy's second novel has an immediacy and clarity of style which leads us from one scene to another without stopping for breath. Her characters are all quirky in their own way and the setting within a close-knit rural community lends credibility to their choice of independent action, almost outside the law. Sandy excels at action scenes and her writing is at its most compelling during the final, deadly confrontation between a brutal motorbike gang and the determined, unlikely trio of Neve, Tony and Micah who challenge them. The emotionally wrenching rescue of the child at the centre of the story has a heart-rending resonance with trauma in Neve's past. Romantic tension is maintained right to the end between Neve and Micah, while their contrasting backgrounds and life styles throw up obstacles at every turn. Sandy's resolutions never let us down.

Combatting Fear by Sandy Vaile is a high-octane, suspense-filled story, with a twist of sexy romance.

Sandy Vaile’s second novel is heartwarming, thrilling and just a little bit sexy. A story of a distraught father looking for his son, a fiercely protective kindergarten teacher with a family secret and the conflict between them as they battle desire and preconceptions in the search for a missing child.

Vaile has a wonderful way of writing children and the heartwarming glimpses she gives of little Rowan certainly make you feel protective of this innocent boy. Micah’s desperation comes through from the very first page. He has all the tall, dark and handsome attributes we love in a hero. He is a sensitive alpha. A natural leader who knows, eventually, when to acknowledge he doesn’t have the skills to rescue his son. I would have liked to see Micah take more of a lead at times, but this is Neve’s story. She is the character who keeps this story moving forward. Independent and headstrong, eminently capable of taking on a biker gang, and fiercely protective of those she loves, Neve is a standout female protagonist.

The story line is as taut as one of Neve’s bowstrings; nothing is extraneous and there is plenty of action and suspense as the two hunt for Rowan’s kidnappers. There is just enough backstory for us to understand why Neve and her father live off the grid and why she guards her privacy, and her heart, so well.

I thoroughly enjoyed Combatting Fear, even more than Vaile’s debut novel Inheriting Fear, which I loved, and I can’t wait to meet Vaile’s next heroine.

If you love a heroine who is strong, vulnerable and ready to fight for what she holds dear, then you can’t go past Combatting Fear.

Micah Kincaid has been searching for his son, Rowan, for a year, after his wife, Chelsea, took him and moved without warning. He finally tracked them to a small town and the kindergarten he attended. Going to the school he demanded to see his son. This didn't sit well with the school's director, Neve Botticelli. Of course, she couldn't let Micah see his son or even confirm if he went to that school.

Eventually, Neve begins to doubt Chelsea and agrees to help Micah search for Rowan and Chelsea who have vanished again. When Micah gets a ransom demand from a local biker gang he is very worried for his son's safety.

Neve was an amazing woman. She was great with kids making her job as a kindergarten teacher perfect for her. She was such a good person to everyone. I liked how patient she was with her father who had PTSD. Even though Micah was a successful businessman and self-made billionaire his childhood was not very good. His father left his family taking everything so he had a hard time of it when he was younger.

I liked this romantic suspense and am very happy to have won it in a giveaway. I enjoyed this fast-paced story and the great characters. I liked the mix of really good people and really bad people. The characters and how they handled the situations helped make this story one I didn't want to put down.

Combatting Fear is my first foray into Australian romantic suspense, and it doesn't disappoint.Set in the South Australian bush near Adelaide this story starts off with a simple search by an anxious father to find his missing son Rowan and Chelsea, the wife who has run off with him.Billionaire businessman Micah Kincaid is used to getting his way but he's also desperate to reconnect with four year-old Rowan. Kindergarten principal Neve Botticelli is not impressed with Micah's blustering belligerence and refuses to let him in to see Rowan.Despite a less than propitious start, they both feel a spark of attraction. Forced to work together in the search for Chelsea and Rowan, who have once again disappeared, Neve and Micah soon find that their attraction is more than skin deep.Sandy Vaile has assembled an interesting cast of secondary characters ranging from Neve's father Tony, who is suffering from PTSD and is a little over-cautious about intruders, to Neve's best friend Bron, who thinks Micah is swoonworthy. There are some fairly unsavoury bikers to ramp up the suspense, and a cracking plot with enough cliff-hanging moments to keep me on the edge of my seat. Recommended.